High-rise buildings and buildings comprising a plurality of floors require complex elevator systems in order to handle all transport processes as effectively as possible. During peak times, it is in particular possible that a multitude of users wants to be transported from the ground floor of the building to the different floors of the building. During further peak times, a multitude of users, for example, is to be transported from the different floors to the ground floor.
This requires logistically optimized elevator systems, which handle load peaks and changes as quickly as possible. Individual users are to be thereby transported to their target floor as quickly as possible, without long waiting periods. On the one hand, a car is to be provided as quickly as possible on an initial floor, on which an individual user wants to enter the elevator system. On the other hand, the car, which the user enters, is to reach the corresponding target floor as quickly as possible, without a large number of unnecessary stopovers. A user should furthermore need to change the car as infrequently as possible, until he reaches the target floor. When a user needs to change the car, the parameter of the shortest possible waiting periods applies for the next connecting car as well.
Elevator systems for such purposes are known. Single-car systems or one-car systems, respectively, have for example one car in an elevator shaft. Double-decker car systems have two cars in an elevator shaft. These two cars of a double-decker car system are fixedly connected to one another for the most part and cannot be moved independently from one another for the most part. Multi-car systems have at least two cars in an elevator shaft. These cars of a multi-car system can be moved independently from one another. Such multi-car systems comprising two cars, which can be moved independently from one another in an elevator shaft, are sold by applicant under the name “TWIN”.
Shaft-changing multi-car systems prove to be particularly effective. A shaft-changing multi-car system thereby comprises a plurality of cars, which can be moved in a group of elevator shafts. The cars can hereby not only be moved vertically back and forth in the individual elevator shafts, but also horizontally between the individual elevator shafts. Cars of a shaft-changing multi-car system are thus not fixedly bound to an elevator shaft, as is the case in single-car systems or common multi-car systems.
The cars of a shaft-changing multi-car system can in particular change between the elevator shafts at an upper and/or at a lower end of the elevator shafts. For this purpose, corresponding changing mechanisms are provided. A changing of the cars between the elevator shafts on other advantageous floors, for example in the area of the shaft center, is possible as well. If the shaft-changing multi-car system comprises more than two elevator shafts, the individual cars can in particular change between all of these elevator shafts. Such a change of cars between elevator shafts can thereby be carried out for example only between adjacent elevator shafts or in particular also flexibly between non-adjacent elevator shafts.
An elevator system comprising individually movable elevator cars is known from EP 1 619 157 B1, in which elevator cars can change between individual shafts.